February 14
by FaithinBones
Summary: This story is for the Bonesology Winter Challenge. Booth gives Brennan the perfect Valentine's Day gift. This story takes place in Season 8.


(After 'The Shot in the Dark')

This story is for the Bonesology Winter Challenge. I hope you enjoy it.

I don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooooo

Valentine's Day had arrived on a rather chilly Thursday morning. With Brennan still in the hospital recovering from being shot, Booth wasn't sure what to do about the commercial holiday, but he supposed he'd better rethink some of his plans. His wife wasn't going to be released for a few more days so dining and dancing was out of the question. He had to come up with a back up plan and he needed to do it fast.

Up since before dawn, Booth had dressed for the day and sipped coffee in the kitchen, waiting until it was time to wake up Christine and start their day. At seven, he woke his grumpy little girl, changed her diaper, dressed her in pants and a matching long sleeve shirt and carried her into the kitchen. Once she was in her highchair, Booth fed her some warm oatmeal and some juice while talking to her. The child missed her mother and her father knew it. "I wish I could take you to see Mommy, but they won't let children your age in her room, Christine."

"Mommy." Christine whined and wiggled in her chair. She missed her mother and didn't understand why she wasn't there.

"Yeah, I know sweetheart." His daughter fed, Booth cleaned her face and once that was accomplished, he reached over and grabbed a bag from the kitchen table. Removing a small stuffed lion with a red heart sewed on it's side he gave it to her. "Happy Valentine's Day Christine. This is from me and Mommy."

The child hugged the lion and smiled. "Mommy."

"Yes, Mommy . . . She loves you, Baby." Since time was steadily moving forward, Booth removed his daughter and her lion from the chair, found her coat and hat and dressed her for the chilly temperatures outside. While she sat on the couch, Booth slipped on his coat and decided he'd wear a hat for once. "Like my hat?" The child was busy playing with her lion, so Booth laughed. "Well, I like it."

On their way to Day Care, Booth noticed the streets were icy and drove accordingly. His daughter safely in the arms of Theresa inside the Day Care, Booth kissed his daughter's cheek, left and made his way to the Hoover. Once he was there, he grabbed a cup of coffee from the break room, grabbed a donut from a box sitting on one of the tables and walked to his office. On the way, he ran into Sweets who was wearing his concerned face.

"Are you alright?" Being Booth's friend, he knew that the agent didn't like to talk about personal things like how he felt, but he could talk about Brennan and he hoped that might help. "How is Brennan doing?"

"I'm fine and she's fine." In his office, Booth sat down and placed his donut and coffee on the desk. "I called her this morning about 6:30 and she said she slept pretty good last night. She wants to come home, but her doctor said he won't release her for at least another day or two. He wants to make sure that fever she has is gone first. I offered to keep her company this morning, but she told me she'd rather just rest and read a book."

Sipping coffee from a travel mug, Sweets studied Booth over the rim of his cup them placed the mug on the edge of Booth's desk after swallowing some of his drink. "So, she still has a fever?"

"Yeah . . . I've got to call Castello's today and cancel our Valentine's reservation. Bones was looking forward to going, but . . . well, maybe next year." Both Booth and Brennan loved jazz and they had thought a night celebrating at Castello's would be perfect.

"I'm taking Olivia to Masseria. She likes the linguine." Sweets had debated whether he should just skip Valentine's Day, but he'd seen Olivia at the Royal Diner earlier that week and they'd agree to go out together and see what happens.

Surprised, Booth stared at his younger friend with interest. "Agent Sparling? I didn't know you guys were dating."

"Well, we're not, but who wants to be alone on Valentine's Day?" Sweets frowned at his friend. "I can't sit at home and become a hermit. I need to move on and well, Olivia's not seeing anyone right now so . . . why not see her?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth picked up his cup of coffee. "I don't care if you're dating her. I'm just surprised since you guys dated before and you didn't click plus she shot you."

"It was an accident. It's not like she was aiming at me." Sweets realized that Booth had turned the conversation back on him and he knew it was time to go. Standing, he retrieved his mug and walked towards the door. "If you need to talk, I'll be in my office . . . Oh, um, look, if you need me today or tonight, I'm sure I could talk Olivia into a late night date or something. I mean our thing is last minute anyway."

"Maybe I'll take you up on that offer Sweets. Let me think about it." Once he was in the room by himself, Booth smirked and took a bite out of his donut and chewed slowly. His snack soon gone, Booth drank the rest of his coffee and turned his attention to the pile of paperwork on his desk.

Ooooooooooooooo

Brennan was bored and she wanted to go home. If it wasn't for the fever, she had she'd have left but she knew that she had to make sure she was fever free when she was discharged and so she stayed. The book she was reading was interesting, but it didn't keep her from wishing she was doing something else. Although she had asked Booth to go to work, she missed his company and would be glad when she was able to go home. She also missed her daughter and the fact that the hospital wouldn't allow the child to see her was maddening. She talked to her baby every day on the phone, but it wasn't the same as holding her in her arms and cuddling her. Booth had assured her that Christine was fine, but that didn't make the situation palatable.

"Hey how's it going?" Hesitating at the door, Max smiled at Brennan and walked into the room carrying a bouquet of roses and a heart shaped balloon. "Happy Valentine's Day, Baby. Are you doing okay?" The old man looked around the room and didn't see any signs that Booth had sent Brennan anything for Valentine's Day. _I think Booth and I need to have a little talk._

Since her father had visited her every day since she had been shot, Brennan wasn't surprised to see him. "I'm fine. I still have a fever, but it's not as high as it was yesterday. Dr. MacGregor says he may release me tomorrow afternoon if it continues to move closer to the average temperature."

"That's good, that's real good, Tempe." Max placed the vase of flowers on the window ledge and tied the balloon on the end of the bed. "So . . . um, I don't see any flowers from Booth."

Shrugging her shoulders, Brennan glanced at the roses Max brought her and then back at Max. "He's going to visit me this afternoon at lunch time. He's bringing me a vegetarian meal from Zaytinya. I think he's bringing me Fattoush."

He didn't know what Fattoush was, but he didn't have to eat it so it didn't matter. "Well, okay. I just thought he'd have some flowers delivered."

"Booth likes to deliver flowers and presents in person. He says he likes to see the look on the recipient's face." Brennan smiled. She knew that Booth loved to give things more than he liked to receive things and she knew he would come prepared with a gift of some kind when he came at lunch time. "If he doesn't bring me anything that will be fine. I don't need anything for Valentine's Day. He's been here every day and he's brought me something to eat. I prefer that than a present for Valentine's Day . . . oh, thank you for the roses and the balloon."

"Okay, I just . . . you've been through a lot and you deserve flowers and a balloon." His daughter and Booth had their own way of doing things and he knew that what he thought of that didn't matter to his daughter or Booth. "I saw Christine last night and she's a little sweetheart. She keeps looking for you and calling out for you. It's sweet really."

The thought of her daughter missing her made her want to cry, but Brennan kept her tears in check. The last thing she wanted was to upset her father or herself. "I'll probably see her tomorrow. I've missed her, but Booth sends me pictures of her every day." Holding up her phone, Brennan showed Max the latest one. "He sent me this one this morning after he dressed her. Those black pants with the pink flowers is her favorite pair of pants."

"I can see why, they're cute." Max sat down and leaned back against his chair. "I can stay until Booth shows up. How about we watch a movie together or we can talk or I have a deck of cards in my jacket pocket. We can play fish or rummy."

Grateful for the company, Brennan handed Max the television remote. "See if you can find a movie that you'd like to see or we can watch the Discovery Channel or the History Channel. Whatever you wish to see."

Oooooooooooooooooo

Impatient to see Brennan, Booth climbed the stairs with Sweets following behind him. "Okay, let me check the hallway before you leave the stairwell. Bones' room is two doors down and we might be able to get in before a nurse sees us. Now remember the plan . . ."

Annoyed, Sweets interrupted the agent. "Booth, you've told me the plan three times already. Just stop explaining okay. I've got it. I know what the plan is."

"Right." Since he had to rely on Sweets to do his part of the plan, he shrugged his shoulders and poked his head out of the stairwell and looked down the hallway. "Okay let me go look and I'll be right back." Out into the hallway, he moved at a normal pace and once he was at Brennan's room, he cracked the door open, saw that Brennan and Max were watching a movie and closed the door. Back at the stairwell, Booth motioned for Sweets to follow him. Moving quickly both men were in Brennan's room in a matter of seconds and closed the door behind them.

"Hey Bones, Happy Valentine's Day." Booth took Christine from Sweets' arms and moved across the room to stand by his wife's bed.

"Mama!" Christine squealed with delight and stretched her arms towards her mother. "Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama."

With tears rolling down her cheeks and a broad smile on her face, Brennan reached for her baby and held her against her chest while the baby cried happy tears. Though the weight of the child was causing her discomfort where she had been shot, Brennan held her baby in her arms and spoke to her quietly.

Almost in tears himself, Max stood up and walked over to where Sweets was standing. He watched as Booth leaned over and kissed the side of Brennan's face then his child and Max knew that his son-in-law had found the perfect Valentine's Day gift for his daughter. "The nurse is going to kick Booth out of here along with Christine as soon as she walks in here."

"Nah, when the nurse comes, I'm going to take Christine home with me." Sweets smiled. "I'm going to baby sit tonight. Christine and I are going to play with the new Legos I bought for toddlers and I have frozen yogurt, her favorite kind plus I'm going to make mac and cheese and I have some Cheerios and some juice for tomorrow morning. We're good."

"You don't have a date for tonight?" Surprised, Max shook his head. "I can look after her if you have a hot date you need to get to."

Amused, Sweets shook his head. "No, that's okay. Olivia is coming over to my apartment for dinner tonight. She's bringing some movies and we're going to watch them and Christine. It wasn't the date I had planned, but when Booth told me he was coming over here for lunch he told me that he wanted to sneak Christine in to see Brennan and I knew I had to help him. This my Valentine's Day present to Dr. Brennan too. Pretty cheap gift and everyone wins."

"I guess they do." Max turned and watch Christine lying on her mother's chest, her thumb in her mouth and her eyes closed. "I bet that's the best sleep that baby's had since Tempe got shot."

"Yeah." Booth was sitting on the chair near her bed, his hand on Christine's foot staring at his family. "I think Booth came up with the best Valentine's Day gift ever."

Ooooooooooooooooo

Happy Valentine's Day!


End file.
